Abu Dhabi, Feb 20th, 2013 (WAM)--By Mahmoud Sulaiman--Germany?s Rheinmetall is showcasing a new heavy weight champion: Boxer combines excellent battlefield survivability and combat effectiveness with tremendous operational versatility Wheeled armoured vehicle families continue to play a vital role on the modern battlefield.

They give the troops added mobility and offer protection against ballistic threats, mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Without a doubt, the GTK Boxer is one of the most advanced, most mobile, best-protected wheeled armoured vehicles on the market today.

Boxer mission module with the Lance turret integrated, and other Rheinmetalls? equipment are on display at IDEX2013 in Abu Dhabi.

Having joined forces to form the Artec consortium, Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) manufactures the Boxer in cooperation with another defence contractor under a bi-national programme, in which Rheinmetall holds a 64 per cent stake. GTK is the abbreviation of "Gepanzertes Transport-Kraftfahrzeug, German for "armoured carrier vehicle".

Since July 2011 the German ISAF contingent has deployed three different versions of this highly mobile, superbly protected system in Afghanistan: a troop carrier capable of transporting a fully equipped infantry section, a command post vehicle and a field ambulance.

Designed for maximum mobility, this wheeled armoured vehicle?s build-on modules lend themselves to a wide variety of mission-specific variants. The vehicle family consists of a uniform chassis and interchangeable, user-specific mission modules.

Among the variants developed thus far are a section transporter, a field ambulance, a combat engineer section vehicle, a driving school version, a logistics vehicle, a battle damage repair vehicle and a command post vehicle.

At its stand at IDEX 2013, Rheinmetall will be showcasing the German variant of the command post vehicle. As an added plus, interaction between the command post vehicle and dismounted soldiers wearing the Gladius future soldier system will be demonstrated.

Of course, there are plenty of other possibilities for the configuration of the GTK Boxer: an air defence vehicle, for example, or a reconnaissance platform or lightweight wheeled tank. To this extent, the Boxer offers tremendous future potential. As recently as Eurosatory 2010, Rheinmetall presented a concept study for a prototype Boxer infantry fighting vehicle mounted with a Lance medium-calibre turret.

This concept study proved to be the basis of a fully functional combat vehicle. Rheinmetall successfully combined a Lance turret with a Boxer vehicle module and modified build-on module, which has since undergone testing at the Rheinmetall Defence proving ground in UnterluB, verifying the concept?s validity.

In a dynamic driving and live fire demonstration in front of a high-profile delegation, the Boxer and Lance provided compelling evidence of their combat effectiveness.

The conclusion drawn from this impressive presentation: the combination of a highly protected, highly mobile and mission-proven vehicle platform with the world?s most advanced medium-calibre turret has clear battlefield potential. Moreover, in addition to the decisive parameters of protection, mobility, situational awareness, C4I capabilities and lethality, this configuration offers the major advantage of a spacious fighting compartment.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2013.